The transcript has been transcribed and edited from English simultaneous interpretation, thus there may be potential semantic inaccuracies within it.
Daily Morning Lesson: June 8, 2026
Part 1: Rabash. Concerning Respecting the Father. Art. 5 (1986)
Original lesson date: 01/18/2002
Reader: Friends, we're going to go into a lesson with the Rav from 2002. It is based on Rabash's article “Concerning Respecting the Father.” We'll read the article first together in the Tens. We have 19 minutes for that.
Reading: (00:34) Concerning Respecting the Father
Article No. 5, 1986
It is written in the holy Zohar (Vayera, item 141): “Rabbi Shimon started and said, ‘A son honors his father, and a servant his master.’ ‘A son honors his father’ is Isaac with respect to Abraham. He asks, ‘When did he honor him? When he tied him at the altar … and he did not resist doing his father’s will.’ ‘And a servant [honors] his master’ is Eliezer with respect to Abraham. When he sent Eliezer to Haran, who did there all that Abraham wished, he honored him, as it is written, ‘And the Lord has blessed my master.’ And it is written, ‘He said: ‘I am Abraham's servant,’’ to honor Abraham. Indeed, a man who brings silver and gold and gems and camels, and who is respectable and handsome, did not say that he was Abraham’s beloved or his kin. Rather, he said, ‘I am Abraham's servant,’ to raise Abraham's merit and honor in their eyes.”
(In item 145) He says, “This is why it is written, ‘A son honors his father, and a servant his master.’ And you, Israel, My sons, it is a disgrace for you to say that I am your father or that you are My servants. ‘If I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is the fear of Me?’”
We should understand the words of the holy Zohar when it says that “The Lord says, ‘And you, Israel, My sons, it is a disgrace for you to say that I am your father.’” This implies that we need to tell someone that the Creator is our father, but we cannot say it because we are ashamed. So we must know to whom we are to say that He is our father. We must also know what is the shame for which we are unable to say it, as it is written, “It is a disgrace for you.”
This is generally perplexing. After all, each day we say, “Our father, our King.” And during the Eighteen Prayer we say, “Return us, our Father, to Your law,” so to whom else are we to say that the Creator is our father and we are ashamed to say it, and for which the Creator is angry and says, “If I am a father, where is My honor?”
We should interpret this: We need to say that “The Lord is our father” relates to the Creator. We always say, “Our Father, Our King,” and for this the Creator is angry: how are you not ashamed to say to Me that I am your father while you show Me no respect, as it is said, “If I am a father, where is My honor?” That is, the Creator says it is a disgrace for you to call Me “Our Father,” and I see that to you, My honor is in the ground, which is called “Shechina [Divinity] in the dust.” Thus, how are you not ashamed to call Me “Our Father”?
“And if I am a master, where is the fear of Me?” You say that you are all servants of the Creator, but I do not see that you have fear, meaning the fear of heaven that you should take upon yourselves. A servant is one has no authority of one’s own, as our sages said, “He who has bought a slave has bought his Rav.” Rather, he is annulled before the master, and all that he receives from the master is only so he can serve the master and not for himself.
But I see that you are taking the opposite route. That is, you want Me to serve you, meaning that I will satisfy your self-love, and all you are coming to ask of Me is how to increase your authority. That is, you are the masters and I am your servant, and you walk around all day with complaints about Me that I owe you and that if you could receive from Me by force you certainly would.
What did the Creator do so they would not receive by force? He did something small: He created darkness in the world, called “concealment,” in case the creatures are unwilling to be servants and work for Him, called “receiving in order to bestow contentment upon one’s Maker,” as our sages said, “cleave on to His attributes.” It is known that as long as one is in vessels of reception, the more one receives, the worse one is, meaning farther from the Creator. Therefore, He has made a great correction that when the vessels of reception govern a person he does not see anything of Kedusha [holiness] from which he can derive pleasures.
Rather, he sees only those pleasures that he can see, called “pleasures of separation.” It is as the holy ARI says, that the Klipot [shells/peels] were given a slim illumination for all the corporeal pleasures so they may exist. This light of corporeality is all that we can see as having pleasure. But over spirituality lies a cloud of darkness that covers all the spiritual pleasures. Thus, they do not receive by force when the landlord does not want to give because they see no pleasures. Hence, those whose wish is only self-love flee from any true thing where there is delight and pleasure because darkness covers the earth.
For this reason, a person cannot begin to work Lishma [for Her sake] right away, but must begin in Lo Lishma [not for Her sake]. In Lishma, which is the true way, the body must flee from this work, as every kind goes to its kind. Since man was created with vessels of reception in order to receive, when he sees a thought, word, or action that does not yield anything for his vessels of reception, he promptly flees from them because this is not his kind. His kind is the nature in which he was created—receiving in order to receive, and not to give anything.
In order for a person who begins the work of the Creator not to flee from the work of bestowal because this is not his kind, we must begin with Lo Lishma. That is, he keeps the Torah and Mitzvot [commandments] that the Creator has commanded us in return for reward from Him for our work. This is so because we could work only for corporeal things, to make money and gain respect, and enjoy rest. We relinquish obtaining money, honor, and other lusts that the body requires of us to do, and which would delight us, and instead keep the Torah and Mitzvot that the Creator has commanded us.
We see that when we demand something of the body, that it will relinquish the pleasures it thinks it can enjoy, it asks, “What will you get out of it?” That is, “These new works you want to do, will they give you greater pleasures? If not then why do you need to change your work-place? You are used to working for this landlord but now you want to work for the Creator because He needs your work? Will He pay you a higher salary, meaning more pleasures? Will you enjoy more than in the work you are already used to?”
We should say to it: “Until now we had small gains, meaning imaginary pleasure, but now you will make great profit and your pleasure will be real pleasure because the Creator wishes to give you a spiritual reward. However, without work it will be bread of shame, which is why we were given Torah and Mitzvot, and we must believe that He will certainly pay us for relinquishing our needs, from which we could enjoy, in return for a real reward, which is a spiritual reward.
And although we do not know yet what is spirituality, we nonetheless believe it is a great thing compared to which all the corporeal pleasures are as a tiny candle, as explained in the words of the ARI, who says that due to the breaking of the vessels and the sin of the tree of knowledge, sparks fell into the Klipot in order to sustain them, so they would not be cancelled as long as they are needed. But the majority of the delight and pleasure is found in the worlds of Kedusha. Therefore, it is worthwhile for us to work in Torah and Mitzvot by which we will be rewarded with the next world in return for our work in Torah and Mitzvot.
However, once a person has begun the work of the Creator and wants to know the real work, he is told, “If I am a master, where is the fear of Me?” That is, the proper way is for the servant to work only for the landlord and not at all for himself. Yet, you are working only in order to be rewarded with the next world; you want reward for your work. The slave works without any reward, and the landlord provides his needs for him only so the servant will be able to work for Him, but the servant has no property that can be said to belong to the servant. Rather, there is only one authority there—the authority of the landlord.
Indeed, all our work in Torah and Mitzvot should be in order to achieve equivalence of form, which is Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator. Engaging in Torah and Mitzvot is not as we thought before—that the Creator wants us to keep His Torah and Mitzvot and He will later pay us for this. Rather, the Torah and Mitzvot we were given to keep is because we need it! That is, by keeping Torah and Mitzvot we will receive the light of the Torah, and through that light we will then be able to achieve equivalence of form because the light in it reforms him.
Thus, what is the reward we should ask for in return for the body’s work? It is that we relinquish the needs of the body for the purpose of keeping Torah and Mitzvot. It is impossible to work without reward, since it immediately asks, “Why are you relinquishing the pleasures that you can enjoy? What will you gain?”
The answer is that all our gain is that we are rewarded with serving the Creator. This is very important because it is true, meaning that he will be rewarded with clinging to the King of Kings. But when all the pleasures he has are built on taking every delight and pleasure into serving himself, and receiving pleasure in clothes of reception pertains to animals and not necessarily to humans, the highest of all creatures, so he enjoys the same dresses that animals enjoy. This is unbecoming of him.
Rather, all the dresses where man wants to receive pleasure should be garments of vessels of bestowal. That is, it is impossible to work without pleasure, but he measures his pleasures in how much he can bestow upon the King. That is, if he wishes to know how much work he receives from his work he should not measure how much he enjoys his work, meaning how much pleasure he derives from serving the King. Rather, he should measure by actions, meaning how much he wants the King to enjoy his work. It follows that all of his importance is in that he is serving the King.
It follows that if one wants to test if he is advancing in the work, he should do it in two ways: 1) by looking at the reward he hopes to receive from the Creator. If he is receiving a greater reward each day then the gauge is the vessels of reception. 2) How much he enjoys serving the Creator, and all his reward is that he is bestowing upon the Creator. For example, if he is serving the greatest man in the country, he enjoys it. But if he is serving the greatest in the generation, he certainly enjoys it more. Therefore, he wants the Creator to be greater and more important in his eyes each day. This is the real measurement.
Reader: We will now continue to the lesson from the 18th of January, 2002.
M. Laitman: (19:45) We read an article from Rabash “Concerning Respecting the Father.” As if the Creator demands us to respect Him. Of course, He doesn't need that; there can't be any kind of demand like that, or understanding like that in vessels of bestowal. One who bestows — the first correction we go through when we reach bestowal is to have no address for self, no return to self. So, certainly, respect, and being one of the biggest demands of man's ego, man's will to receive, it immediately becomes uprooted from the person if he enters spirituality. In the spiritual realm, honor or respect is not self-respect, but the opposite — it's the honor to whom I give. That I need to honor Him, appreciate Him, know Him, and that He'll be great in my eyes, because only then my vessels of reception will surrender and I'll be able to bestow to Him. This is actually the whole matter of the concealment, that until a person doesn't attain all the corrections, the Creator is hidden to not disturb the person to make the correction. Not that He is doing it on purpose, so that we suffer in the darkness or all kinds of other calculations, the way we think about it in our ego; rather, the concealment on His part is to allow us to prepare vessels of reception, specifically vessels of reception, so that we can then receive in them without limit. Without limit can be received only if these vessels of reception are in order to bestow. So, to allow us — it's to allow us to correct our vessels of reception, to acquire the intention, the reflected light. And that's possible only if the Creator is not felt inside of us, inside our senses. And that time of the preparation of the vessel for the reception of the light has to happen in darkness, in double concealment or single concealment. And so, the work is in trying to work on the greatness and the importance of the Creator without knowing Him. How is that possible? From the darkness, from the negativity — not from the positive, but from the negative. If a person, from the negative, from not feeling godliness, he develops the desire for godliness and comes to the point of “until it doesn't let me sleep,” then he is awarded with the Creator beginning to be revealed to him. And then the revelations he feels, the knowing of the Creator also uses the person, also serves the person as fuel, as the ability to keep increasing the vessel, to continue and grow the vessel, and not that the presence of the Creator quenches all development. Like in our world, if we take a hungry person and give him everything, he will not want to develop. He will not want to work; he will not want to develop. You know, they say that hunger and fear develop the world, or govern the world, move the world. What does it mean? The desire for, the lust and passion for all kinds of things, and the hunger - the desire to fill oneself, that pushes man towards development, it brings him to move.
M. Laitman: (24:29) And so, if people - not just people, but all of nature - would just receive its fulfillment on the spot, there would be no development, there would be no need to make any movement. On the contrary, even if you would like to make a movement — as if you would like — but there would be no reason to. Any movement is necessary; it's a necessary urge to receive fulfillment. So the Creator has to be concealed, the pleasure has to be concealed. The suffering, meaning the emptiness, has to be revealed, actually. And in such a state, the person needs to move and develop himself in the right direction, build the vessel — that this vessel, the desire for revelation of godliness, will be sufficient, which is impossible without this — then the Creator becomes revealed and begins the stage of the disclosure of the face. The transition between concealment and revelation is called crossing the barrier, entering spirituality. And after that, when a person moves to the sensation of the Creator, meaning into spirituality, into the upper world, it doesn't matter how you call it, then, from the Creator opening up to him, from beginning to see the forces, relationships, what's happening with him and his surroundings, from that he begins to learn reality in a practical way, from his new life, from the data that appears to him. So the main thing is to go through the phase of preparation and achieve disclosure of the face. After that, it says, "One's soul shall teach him," meaning that a person receives an impression from the revelation of the Creator, and that already attracts him and advances him. Any questions? Please.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (27:13) In order to give the person the passion, the desire to reach the Creator, even when he passes the barrier, is there some kind of concealment after a person crosses the barrier? I understand that there's some process, some mechanism before the barrier, when the Creator is hidden from the person, by which a person receives the desire to reach the Creator. Anything after he crosses the barrier?
M. Laitman: How is the Creator hidden from the person? The Creator is hidden from the person in a simple way. To the extent that the person is not in corrected vessels, these vessels themselves hide the Creator as something that's opposite. Or you can say it differently, from the Creator's perspective — that the Creator, from above... We can't talk about the person before he's created. We say that the Creator created a system of diminishing the light, diminishing His presence, His sensation, through filters of sorts that weaken, and weaken, and weaken more and more His sensation with respect to the created being. And those levels of weakening, they are called worlds — five worlds. In each world there are five Partzufim; in each Partzuf - five Sefirot; altogether 125 degrees, by which the Creator, who as if stands behind all those degrees, all those filters, He is then felt as weaker, and weaker, and weaker through those filters. And we, beginning our path from below, we are under all of the degrees. So we feel darkness. So, on the one hand, we have to say the Creator is hidden from us behind all those curtains, and on the other hand, we can say that all those curtains, all those degrees, they are within us. And they are, in fact, the stages of corruption that we have from above downwards, that He deliberately corrupted us and made us this way. And to the extent that we correct each and every corruption from below upwards, from smaller corruption to greater and greater and greater one — the truth is, the greatest corruptions are the highest, "one who's greater than his friend, his inclination is greater than him,” when we begin to correct ourselves from below upwards, or you could say, when we remove the filters, those curtains that He put between us — to the extent that I correct a quality within me, that curtain, as if, opens up. I correct another quality, and a higher curtain opens up as well, and so on. But in truth, it all happens in a single carrier - it's all within the soul. Besides the Creator and the soul, there's nothing. And all those degrees happen within the soul. When the Creator put a will to receive in the soul, He did it gradually, through 125 degrees, one by one. Each one is greater, more cruel, more demanding. And then the will to receive - the greater it is, the more it demands, the lower it is - then we begin our feeling from after all those degrees of the soul, from a point called this world, so we don't feel anything at all from godliness, from the Creator. When the first kind of attitude towards Him opens us, it's the point in the heart. And it's also not something that is felt realistically, in the sense that I can see Him and feel Him, but through the preparation that we're engaged with now. If I start from that point and build the first vessel, the first correction, I remove the first curtain, the lowest curtain, then I begin to feel Him. So it's all within me, within my soul. And afterwards I correct another something of my will to receive, and then I remove another hurdle between us, another curtain between us. And thus I feel Him more and more within my soul. The truth is, He's always there inside my soul, but I, on my own, within myself, I correct my sensation of Him, my sensitivity to Him, my ability to sense Him.
M. Laitman: (32:35) So everything we can talk about is ultimately happening inside the soul, only there. There's nothing outside of it. There's nothing that — if something's happening outside of it, does it really happen on the outside, or does it not? I can't say. Just like in our five senses, I seem to perceive something from outside, seemingly, because I actually just perceive my responses to something from the outside. And so, from that I build my entire picture of the world, where I think I exist in a certain place, in a certain reality, the same thing happens in the soul, in the sixth sense: that what's felt in the soul is what a person calls my spiritual world, and that's it. And what's revealed within the soul, he calls it the general force, he calls it the Creator. It's not, you know, like a little thing — as I'm talking about it, like it's not such an important thing — but this is how the root of entire creation becomes revealed, the root of all of creation, all of reality that we're talking about: the worlds, the souls and everything that fills those souls and worlds, and angels, and demons, and spirits, which is all altogether just forces, qualities. And what you think of as this world, with all of this vast universe and all of the stillness — look at how many billions of tons of planets and distances and all those things — ultimately become revealed to us as our impression from the influence of the Creator upon us, towards our senses. It exists inside our senses; and outside our senses, I can't really say if it exists. In truth, it doesn't. It doesn't — because this picture is a picture that falsifies the true reality, meaning that what we perceive within us, according to our sensations, our qualities, our senses, we call that objective reality, as if it exists even when we don't sense it, even if there's no human. But such a thing we can't say, because we can never check what is the true reality if there's no person to feel it. We can always talk about who feels, and what he feels — only those two things, or light and vessel, Creator and created being. So, all the worlds, all that we talk about, all of reality, is only within us, it's only within our emotions. And Kabbalah is a science that explains to us then, what is it that we feel? Who fills my emotions, my senses? My five senses and the additional spiritual sense. And what is this reality that we call life, this feeling within our senses? And part of the senses perhaps disappears, and others are born, and so on. In short, it's a science on perception of reality. That's what Kabbalah is. And Kabbalah calls the reality we experience, or it divides what we experience into two parts — the imaginary reality and the true reality. What do you call imaginary and what do you call true, if I feel that? So, Kabbalah says this: the imaginary reality is the reality you feel in the ordinary five beastly senses of a person, and the true reality is what you feel in the sixth sense.
M. Laitman: (37:21) Why so? I have science, and physics, and chemistry, and all kinds of means that I developed from the sensation of this world. The truth is that because the reality of this world is felt in a desire to receive in order to receive, this thing is false in its foundation, because I don't sense the true reality, I don't sense who actually fills me. Everything I feel is according to the impression of the vessels that demand pleasure. In other words, the picture is distorted. I see that I'm going to be missing a few words here. When I develop the sixth sense — because I develop it to the point that it is worthwhile for its role — it becomes independent of me, it becomes objective, unrelated to my will to receive. It's as if I am looking through someone else's eyes, you understand? Not bribed. I don't feel the picture through how it seems to the program of what's good or bad for me, but I feel the picture the way it is for real. That's why this reality is called the true reality; and so that reality that I feel, I name that - Creator. Now there are things here that we perhaps still need to clarify.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (39:39) There's a feeling that I'm not running towards... I don't feel the Creator yet, and my feeling is that I'm not running towards the good, but rather it's more escaping, fleeing the bad. I mean, I feel a lack of flavor in this life, the pointlessness of this life, in a way that really hurts me, you could say. I'm trying to flee that, but I don't feel any great pleasure in running towards... I mean, I'm more in a state of fleeing the bad than running towards the good, although intellectually I understand that reaching there would be incredible. So how to invert that? How to start running towards the good, not just escaping the bad?
M. Laitman: Good question. Meaning, a person who comes to a point where he wants to escape the evil — he's actually the kind of person who comes to Kabbalah. In such a way, the Creator necessitates us to begin to know Him. Since we are a will to receive, we cannot be forced otherwise. But just doing... making us feel bad, because then we advance, necessarily. So Baal HaSulam writes that all of Kabbalah is intended for someone who asks, what's the point in life? A simple question. In the introduction to TES, item 2, right away, right in the beginning, he writes that the whole wisdom of Kabbalah is for one who asks, what is the point in life? And he's truly looking for how to live, because it's difficult, and he's just unable to stay alive without solving this question. Now, so certainly anyone starts running from something bad and looking for something better. You understand. But if we are talking about that we don't just want to be beasts that run away from evil, or like babies, and we want something good, so we want to advance like a person, like a human. What is a human? The Creator is godliness. The Creator is the general force of nature. It's the force that runs all of reality. It's the general law that, if I know it, then I know how everything works, how everything turns around and spins — past, present, and future, I know all the souls, I know myself, I'm tied to eternity, not to times in this world, and generally, all times, everything that happens throughout all worlds. So I will yearn for that only because now I feel bad, something pokes me? Rather, I want to advance like a human to something that is big and great. And it's true, actually. One who starts studying Kabbalah has to change his motivating force from a force that pushes from behind through suffering, to a force that pushes from the front by pleasures, even beastly pleasures, meaning that I think I will be better off. It's not that the bad necessitates me to escape. All the religions, all of the systems are built on that method of escaping the bad. And therefore, they tell a person, stop wanting. Stop. Just settle for a little. You don't need much. Eat less, drink less, even breathe less, like in some yoga type of thing. All kinds of things. Diminish your demands, and you'll be better off. Settle for something small - something smaller is easier to come by and to attain. And if you do such exercises so that you don't want more than that, you'll be happy. Sit under a tree, meditate - peace. By that, you cannot acquire something really great, because you are destroying the vessels of reception. So it's true that from behind, I no longer feel this painful urge that pushes me forward, but I also don't really run forward. Kabbalah says we mustn't delete anything. Enjoy this life however you want. Keep enjoying. Alongside, keep studying Kabbalah and try to reach a state, where the fact that spirituality is greater than this world, it's eternal, it unlocks your horizons, you will truly feel Ein Sof, above all life and death, and you'll see all life cycles, how life is governed in general, not just this life right here, right now - and that will push you forward.
M. Laitman: (45:24) And it's not that you don't want to feel pain, so you don't want more than a piece of bread and a plate with some soup. You understand? So we certainly need to replace beastly suffering with suffering of love — that I'll feel that I lack spirituality out of love, out of wanting it, because it's great, because it's beautiful. And not because I'm being poked by troubles from behind. That's what we need to do. And that's something that a person by himself finds very difficult to do. It's only by the society, that the society will provide him with this kind of confidence and sensation and impression. Then, if I see that a lot of people are impressed by this, then I can stop paying attention to how to exit my troubles. I just see that other people yearn for it because it's great. Everyone says, it's great. And then, from envy and hate and all kinds of human traits that I have, I also want it. And that's how a person replaces the suffering of the beasts by the suffering of the human.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (46:55) What is special about the sixth sense, where I feel the pleasure, the giver of the pleasure?
M. Laitman: What's special about the sixth sense, different from the five senses? In the sixth sense — well, it works according to a completely different method than the five. In the five senses, the software, the program running in the five senses, is the program of the will to receive. So, according to that program, I perceive reality in my five senses and process it, to begin with, in my will to receive, which is to say with no relation to actual reality - whatever will be good for me, I perceive, I absorb. Whatever will be bad for me, I also perceive, but I perceive it in such a way where it's, seemingly, I reject the bad and bring closer, pull closer the good. That is the program of the will to receive, working with the five senses. So, we have five senses, like five conduits through which some impression of what's external comes to me. And this impression I immediately divide into what's good for me, what's bad for me, and I don't care about reality itself. I only care about what I feel from it. So, the image that is painted before me, it's not a real picture. It's a picture which has only in it, only the way it relates to good or bad. Whereas if I develop the sixth sense, the sixth sense works according to a different method, the method of bestowal, meaning with no relation to myself, my own initial nature. It's only according to who it is that I feel — meaning, to what extent is He important, the one who I feel, how great He is, and to what extent I can direct, instead of towards me, I can direct pleasures and suffering, all things towards Him. Meaning, I replace feeling good and bad within myself with Him as the object that feels good and bad from me. And then the image begins to be completely, completely different, meaning I begin to feel that it's not, it's not what enters and settles on the will to receive, but rather what enters and settles on the will to bestow — and the will to bestow to the divine, to the One who gives me all these impressions — meaning my vessel becomes to be the Creator. The Creator becomes my vessel. It's like with a camera. I take a picture of something that's outside, right? What do I take the picture on? My own film, or His film? So it follows that I receive His vessel, I begin to transition to feeling what He feels, what He is impressed by, meaning that in that way I unite with the upper force. He is outside of me, and that's why this reality is called the true reality. Look, there aren't exactly the right words with which to express this, but it's truly an opposite world.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (50:40) Meaning that even now — well, even afterwards, reality is subjective?
M. Laitman: By acquiring the sixth sense and feeling a different reality in it, that doesn't cancel out the five senses. They're not canceled, and I don't cancel my impression, my feelings in those, what I feel in those five senses. There is no connection, no correction in them, rather. There's nothing to correct there. They remain as they are, meaning in the same way I can enjoy all the things I enjoyed before, in the same way. These five senses are not meant to be corrected, changed. They remain as they are, and that's it. What I do, however, is I practice with them to reach a state — in order to reach a state where I want to develop and work with the sixth sense. So, opposite them and what I feel in them, I receive the beginning of the sixth sense, the point in the heart, and indeed, I unite with that more and more and more. I feel that He is I. I begin to live in Him, what I feel in Him, or in it, that sixth sense. For me, that's my entire life now, and not these five senses, the beastly ones of this world. Instead, I feel spirituality. When I feel spirituality more, for me, that's happy. If I feel it less, for me, that's sad. It's not about what's in the five senses. So, that begins to be more and more important to me, and then I simply attach myself, glue myself to that sixth sense, and I begin to affiliate with that, and that becomes my life — to the point where these five senses don't bring me any special sensations, any special impressions later. Yes - yes, no - no. I don't feel that I live in them, to the point where, when the person dies, the body dies, the person doesn't feel that he died. He doesn't undergo any kind of dramatic process of separation from the body, and all those things. Rather, the Rav said, Rabash said, you replace it like you change a shirt. That's it, and nothing more.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (53:25) So, the feeling of the Creator doesn't come together with the person. How does it happen? How does it come?
M. Laitman: The feeling of the Creator comes in the sixth sense. If the sixth sense becomes greater than the five senses, if the person identifies with it and wants to be adhered to it and to live in it, then the impression in it — compared to the other five senses, opposite them — opens up this sense of the feeling of divinity.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (54:10) The feeling of godliness is not connected to the pleasure that I receive in the five senses?
M. Laitman: The feeling of godliness has nothing to do with the pleasures felt in the five senses. You can continue enjoying these five senses to the point where you turn them off using the sixth sense, or don't, it doesn't matter. The wisdom of Kabbalah forbids nothing. The wisdom of Kabbalah says, develop the sixth sense. And in the five senses, you do whatever you want. There are no corrections in them. There's nothing in them. Simply using the sixth sense will build a man out of you, human, Adam. And then you will know how to use or not use those five senses. In this, the wisdom of Kabbalah is very different to all religions and all the other methods. And here you really see that this method is the method by which to acquire the sixth sense — acquiring something completely new, unrelated to this world. This whole business is unrelated to this world. Likewise, the wisdom of Kabbalah doesn't talk about any physical actions, or any rituals, traditions, customs - things that belong to
Student: to the correction of the five senses.
M. Laitman: Not only the correction of these five senses: tradition, actions, habits, various things that relate to religion, what the general population deals with. It has nothing to do with the wisdom of Kabbalah as it doesn't belong to spirituality. It has to do with a person who is in this world and feels that this makes him feel good, makes things easier for him. It's just popular belief, belongs to the imaginary world.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (56:24) The sixth sense is an embryo of me and the Creator together. It's something shared?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (56:36) What is feeling bad in spirituality, if there is such a thing?
M. Laitman: Feeling bad?
Student: Yes.
M. Laitman: The same way, the feeling of good cannot exist in spirituality without feeling bad. It means the measure of concealment and revelation come as one, arrive as one. First of all, every concealment has to come prior to a revelation, otherwise, there won't be a revelation, meaning everything is made up of the status of the created being opposite the Creator. So, of course, reality has to comprise two forces, two points of data — light, darkness, vessel, light, it doesn't matter. And so, the feeling of the bad, the evil, must come before the feeling of good. But this bad feeling in a person who is in spirituality is not a bad feeling. Rather, I don't know how to picture this — if a person who knows he's soon to eat a meal, he really enjoys the fact that he's hungry now, and he already knows what flavors he will be able to discover through his hunger and then satiation. Meaning, one supports the other. In spirituality, you cannot distinguish between them. It's the front and back of the same vessel. And so, there's no state in spirituality where a person suffers. The feeling of darkness is a constructive feeling, a feeling of the making, the making of the vessel. It's joy, it's not pain or despair. Beyond the Machsom, the barrier, there's nothing negative.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (58:44) So, the reality that I find in the sixth sense is a relationship between me and the Creator. The question is whether the same reality will be seen to a person who, you know, just like two people look at a chair and they see more or less the same chair?
M. Laitman: Yes, so, meaning a person, people who are on the same spiritual degree, although it's two souls, and the same measure of the Creator is revealed in both of them, and they both feel the same reality, although each one has his own flavor to it. It's like we can't compare with you what you feel and what I feel in the same drink, if it's the same or a little bit different. Of course, there is some difference in our impressions. That's how it is in spirituality. And of course, each one perceives and grasps these things slightly differently, but in general, it doesn't mean that reality is different. They have a common language when they talk about what they feel. And because of that, Kabbalists write books to one another, and they can exchange opinions regarding what happens on various degrees, various spiritual states, and each one feeling special flavors in that. It's because each one is another part of the general soul, called Adam HaRishon. So, of course, each one has a slightly different impression. But that's it. Nothing more. There's no argument about this even, because we cannot compare these things between us - to what extent you're impressed by something warm and sweet, something of the sort, and to what extent I am impressed by it. But we both agree that it's warm and sweet.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:00:52) Can two Kabbalists on the same level have a dispute in their views?
M. Laitman: No, on the same level, they won't have any dispute. They all feel the same, because we're all built according to the same four discernments. What one feels and another feels, it's the same as in this world. They feel the same thing, but the inner impression within each one is different. If you and I are served the same tea, right? In the same place we took it and drank it, we agree that it's sweet, because we share the same senses, and that it's hot, and it's wet, and various other discernments. But now I ask you: how sweet do you feel this is? And you'll begin to describe things to me. That you'll never ever be able to explain to me and convey this to me. And I also won't know exactly, and I won't know how to convey this to you. Meaning, there are things which relate to the specific formation of your vessel and my vessel. That's it. But according to the third thing, what we feel — in that we won't have any argument.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:02:13) If the sixth sense is an additional sense, an inner sense, how do you feel it specifically in the relation to the friend?
M. Laitman: In relation to a friend, or why do I need the friend? It's because it's possible to develop the sixth sense only by being drawn to the divine. It's not that I'm pushed towards spirituality by suffering, from behind. Rather, it's like we said, that I'm drawn to spirituality, drawn to it by the greatness of the Creator, by this eternal thing. Meaning, not through the beastly senses, but by recognizing that spirituality is superior to this world. This impression I can receive only from the society. And so, this whole sixth sense, which is the attraction to spirituality, that I build atop the point of the heart — this sense can be built only by the society. Meaning, to the extent that I'm impressed by the society, to that same extent… I mean, I'm impressed by the society recognizing the greatness of the divine, talking about it, how great it is, like in advertisements, like in fashion, all those things. They brainwash us with that. So, to the extent that I receive from them this impression, I can cultivate that sense, develop it to the point where I begin to feel spirituality in it. In order to be impressed by the society with the greatness of spirituality — yes, I need to feel them, or let's say, appreciate them as great, very great - all these people, in order to be more powerfully impressed by them. And I need to feel that I'm lower, lower than them. And also that they are of a great number, if there are many, I am also more impressed, and I need to organize for myself this artificial framework where it's only them influencing me and not anything else. And then, to the extent that I succeed in making sure this brainwashes me, then I'll be completely captured by their opinions, their views, to that extent, I'll succeed in developing the point in the heart until it becomes a vessel. Right, so again, the point in the heart never grows through suffering in this world. It grows through the recognition of the magnitude of spirituality. And so, it's very important to hear from everyone that this is an enormous, gigantic thing.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:05:34) So, it follows that the Creator we are talking about — it's not my vessel, it will never be mine even if I'm equivalent to it, right?
M. Laitman: The spiritual vessel is built above the middle point, in Ein Sof, infinity, where the egoism is just a point. And what we build atop that point, this vessel, we draw it as a kind of cup. It all comes from the first nine Sefirot. These first nine Sefirot are the qualities that we receive from the Creator, meaning our egoism is just the foundation atop which, on top of it, we can build the first nine above it. Meaning the qualities of the Creator that you receive from the Creator, take from the Creator, copy from the Creator, more correctly, in those qualities, we receive godliness. But how can we receive them, copy them from the Creator? By placing them above the ego, above it. So here there needs to be a restriction on egoism, on the egoism a screen, and to the extent that we can step on it, and then we can build above it the nine Sefirot, receiving these qualities from the Creator. And so it follows that a person acquires the vessel, the vessel he uses — he acquires that from the Creator, that entire vessel. The more He wants to bestow upon me, the more, or as much as, He wants to bestow upon me, the same vessel of bestowal I copy to me and I use it. In that, I become similar to Him, equal to Him, like Him. And that's why “He and His name are one,” and all that.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:07:35) In that respect, because it's the same thing I receive from a friend, it's not mine also?
M. Laitman: Yes, when I receive this impression from the friend, it's the same thing. That's why it's written that anything that's outside of the person is the Creator, the qualities of the Creator. Only the Creator exists outside the person. So the society that I'm impressed by — why does it rule me?
Student: The society I'm impressed by, do I need to be a part of it, or can I look at it in a state of from below upwards and to be impressed by it? Or do I really need to be a part of it?
M. Laitman: No, the society that you're going to be impressed by, you don't have to be a part of it, because part or not a part, it's according to the measure of equivalence of form. That's how we measure. So, I cannot say, a part or not a part, but the main thing is to be impressed. The main thing is to be impressed, meaning to put myself, to place myself in such a position towards the society where I'm impressed by them — because maybe they're closed, maybe I'm not absorbing things, maybe the connection between us is not exactly proper. It could be that I've seen in them so many things which I don't like, other than spirituality. Let's say, spirituality — what they say about that? Well, I would be impressed by that, but I see how screwed up they are and how ugly they are. I don't know. All these things which can obstruct my impression of them, right, this impression. And here, of course, it depends on the way in which I organize my order of importance and my perception. That's my work. That's my work already. And in that also I can support the people who are around me, because I'm not alone. There are other beginners, right? Other people. And the problem is that the measure of my impression, the impression I get from the society, it depends also on how I perceive other people to be impressed by it. Even those within the society and also those around it. In the society and around it. So, it also depends on how the society positions itself towards me. Are they, you know, kind of… are they making me itch, right? Are they giving me some kind of stimuli so I'll be impressed? They have to show me that there's something great in them, that they're great, that they're... what's happening there? They have to show that to me. Otherwise, I'm small. How can I be impressed by that? It's like with a child, you know, you play with it, you play with him. But through these games, by playing, he grows. You understand? So, in the same way, I want them to relate to me. Meaning, the society — the society that wants to attract people and help people advance — has to be open, in the sense that it knows, like an educator, how to relate to those who want to come close to it. It has to be concerned with that — that towards, well, the people who are going to approach the society, it has to show itself as important to those people, as great, as not working humbly, only - everything is hidden here, you can't see nothing. We have to, in some way, show the beginner that there are great things here. Like with a child, that something is erupting here, beautiful, shiny, colorful. We have to do that. For that purpose, the Kabbalists started making all sorts of performances to the people. The Rav goes out with his robe, with the hat, all these things. It's all — there is something behind it, a foundation. All these things, they started from things which were positive at their inception.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:12:17) Why is it important that the friend will also get the sixth sense? Oh, I'll attain what I attain. Why is it important for me that he advances?
M. Laitman: You're talking about two friends, not a big one and a small one.
Student: In society.
M. Laitman: In the society, it's very simple. We have "love your friend as yourself." We think it's some kind of nice slogan that everyone's fed up of hearing. It's not whether it's important to me or what he attains, because we're talking about there being in a person this desire to receive. This desire to receive is a part of Malchut of Ein Sof. Malchut of Ein Sof is just a dot. And the nine Sefirot before that is the qualities of the Creator. And from the cascading and the shattering of the vessels and all that, it became such that each and every one of us has his Malchut, the part of Malchut of Ein Sof, his own part. But if I want to receive the nine Sefirot, meaning the rest of the parts of my soul that belong to the nine Sefirot, I cannot receive them just like that from some place. They're in the rest of the souls. So, it turns out — and I can't take it from you, where I kind of go like that with my hand and penetrate your soul, and then grab it there, and tear out your soul, and take from you my part, and join it into me. And then I'll go away. I'll go to each and every one and do it. Such things can't be done in spirituality. Rather, in spirituality, you need to unite with each and every soul. And you can't unite with each and every soul because, in the other's soul, besides your part that is there, all the rest of the parts you can't be in contact with. You don't feel them. It's like, because they belong to a different part of Malchut of Ein Sof, not yours. But through your part, you are connected with the second soul, and the third one, and fourth, etc., with everyone like that. So, if I want to build something with myself, with my Kli, I must be incorporated with all the souls, each and every one. And there's a wonderful result from this: that each reaches the Kli of the Creator, the Kli of all of reality, the Kli of Adam HaRishon, each and every one. It's just founded on one's "I," one's point of Malchut of Ein Sof in me. But all the rest, all the souls, become his. Hence, it won't help me if I attain something and the second doesn't. Because in the end, we all must attain that same most exalted degree. Otherwise, no one attains that degree. That's called the general final correction. Even Rabbi Shimon, even Baal HaSulam — doesn't matter who, what greatest ones there are — they cannot reach the highest possible degree before all the souls reach that degree. Because they too are missing all the corrections that they have yet, that the rest of the souls have yet to do. That's lacking in their Kli. They reached those corrections on their own, which they corrected on their behalf, all those things, but nevertheless, until the rest of the souls correct themselves and don't reach it, they too will be lacking that. The general light — NRNHY of NRNHY, we say — they too are missing.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:16:13) If in such a united society, let's say one of the society or a few already get that sixth sense, can they make it easier for the others? I mean, cause more closeness and unity?
M. Laitman: If several people in the society already attain spirituality, they're beyond the barrier, then the whole society benefits from this, because through the incorporation of those who have attained within the rest of the souls, it already operates. And the fact that in each soul, there's already a certain correction, a spiritual correction. That person that I'm in — and I'm corrected and he not — does not feel in that part that he's corrected. He doesn't feel that, but he feels the support from that part towards the rest of the parts, which helps him advance, which helps him be corrected onwards, to correct his own qualities with that corrected part of mine that is in him. But only through these common parts - there's a connection between one another, where I'm in everyone, and he's in everyone, and he's in everyone, and it's like that with everyone - it turns that each person has their individual part, is that what is inside of him, of his own, and the rest are not of his own. That's how it is in each and every soul. Meaning, if we're talking about a soul that includes — it doesn't matter how you say this — let's say ten Sefirot. So Malchut is his, Malchut is the person's, and the first nine are all those qualities that are in all the rest of the souls. And he can't — I'm saying again — take them, pull them out of everyone, and seemingly enter them into himself. He has to be within them, in all those souls, like that. And to work in this whole Kli, that's in everyone. It turns out that a person is kind of spread out on all of reality. There are great ramifications to this. Hence, "love your friend as yourself" becomes a natural rule here, because it's actually the way reality is built. And what's interesting is that this point of himself, a person doesn't need to correct, because that's the stony heart. He should not relate to it. That's Malchut itself. Rather, he needs to specifically correct all those parts that are in each and every one. All of his parts that are in the first nine. Meaning, the growth I've done after receiving the point of the heart, a longing for spirituality — I grow to the extent in which I correct my part in each and every one. Meaning, in order to bestow, this is considered. From this, we can understand that the law of bestowal is a necessary law for the connection of the soul to one Kli, of each and every one.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:19:32) What is the importance for one person to reach spirituality? So, his point in the heart that exists in each and every one actually is corrected and supports the other points. So, does it matter if it's a person that I'm close to, or even if I don't know him at all? How is the closeness important — just from the general inspiration of raising importance?
M. Laitman: There are Kabbalists who, thousands and hundreds of years ago, made corrections, and those corrections are in us and help us advance. I emphasize this. I have a part of Rabbi Shimon, and The ARI, and the Ashlags, and the rest of the Kabbalists — that the millions throughout the generations, yes? And those who are concealed and those who are revealed towards humanity that we know, and each and every one of them left an impression in each and every one of us. I feel this. I say, oh, that's corrected me, because he lived 800 years ago there in Spain, and oh, this is corrected, thank God. How do I know? I don't know. But that is considered, that nevertheless exists, certainly. And that is why we're connecting, and therefore the righteous, who's the foundation to the world, advances in such a way more than anything else, and advances everyone. The foundation of the world — the whole world is thanks to him being pushed forward. But that's one thing. And the second thing is that if there's someone next to you, like a friend, who is already in spirituality or not, his impression and influence on you can be much more important, through corporeality, what you have from him preparing for you, that Kabbalist preparation. And it's right that you today become more sensitive, more ready for spiritual development. But the friend that's next to you is an example. He acts upon you more than anything. He can push you in great distance. That's why we should relate to one another like to simply a force that you cannot advance without, like an elite unit. Thus a person, according to his development, feels that the whole of humanity is developing, because the whole of humanity is his vessel. And he cares about each and every one, just like he writes in the Arvut article about Rabbi Eleazar, son of Rabbi Shimon, who the whole world belongs to that law, "love your friend as yourself." But it depends on the development of a person, how much he feels and sees this. But certainly, this is so. Because a person comes here, doesn't feel the correction of each other's senses. And if he doesn't reach the correction, no one will reach. That's why the expansion of the wisdom of Kabbalah and dissemination is so important. It turns out that from the understanding of this system, all that comes out of this is understood. I'm looking for some of our new friends here, too.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:23:23) To what extent can I discern the degree I'm on and know a bit of the next degree? How precise is this science?
M. Laitman: To what extent is Kabbalah a precise thing that I can measure what degree I'm in, etc.? Our science in this world, which we develop, depends on our senses. If we distinguish between seven colors, seven tones, etc., then accordingly we build devices, and create systems, programs that will be suited to that which is between us and what we feel as the world around us, so we'll be able to study the world better. Through our devices, I can compose my senses in a way where I feel what I'm lacking. Meanwhile, I don't see x-rays and other waves that are shorter. So accordingly, I build devices for that. But later, in order to grasp, perceive something of that, I must — from those devices that grasp those phenomena — to transfer it to the language, or a measure, or something that I understand, that I can see, so I will feel and hear. By this, I check, and measure, and write down, and repeat all these things. That's our entire science, basically. What happens to us in spirituality? In spirituality, we're in a much better state than in corporeality. Because in spirituality, I attain the roots — not just the phenomena, but I attain the roots of these phenomena. The reasons. In spirituality, there cannot be something that I will feel before I build a Kli for it. That condition alone in which, if you have a Kli, in that Kli, you feel some phenomena, that is the one thing that points to the fact that Kabbalah is a true science compared to all things that we have. Because in our world, I can say, what is that? I feel something. What is it? I don't know. Who is it? I don't know. Where is it? I don't know. What? Yes, that's how I feel. In spirituality, this is impossible. In spirituality, if I didn't build a vessel prior to that — where I know precisely the causes, and the consequences, and how I'm about to feel and measure, and what screens I will have, and what restriction, and what, and the head I build, this striking of coupling with a certain measure of reception I will have, or perceiving I will have - only then do I receive, within the body of the Partzuf, in the Kli, an impression, and then I know exactly what's happening in me. That's why, in spirituality, you can't attain something in feeling before in the intellect, in the knowledge, and the reason; you didn't measure it and know 100% from the beginning to the end what it is. Who is the father and mother of this state? Where does it come from? What could be the results from it?
M. Laitman: (01:27:23) And so Kabbalah, in relation to all the other wisdoms, is so precise to begin with, when it opens to a person, that you can compare between them. How many phenomena do we know in medicine, physics, chemistry? Because we know them, but we don't know why it is like that. We don't even know why Earth has a gravitation. Why is it, I let go of the glass, and it falls and breaks. Why is it like that? Because. In spirituality, there's no such thing. If you, without you knowing the law itself, its causes from within — then it's a sign that you didn't build a Kli, and you don't feel it. Hence, all attainment in spirituality is a completely true attainment. It's truly scientific. That's also why the wisdoms of this world in relation to the wisdom of Kabbalah are called imaginary wisdoms, wisdoms of this world. And only that is called the wisdom of Kabbalah, that's what we call the wisdom of truth. Because the — how real this is — the facts that are here are true facts. With that, the fact that we can't attain in the wisdom of Kabbalah, due to the limitations of our vessels, that too we attain. Meaning, the abstract form and essence, we attain that, and the matter in this form that's clothed in the form. The abstract one, we don't. Hence, to a Kabbalist, to attain spirituality, it is clear where the limit of his attainment is, and from that limit onwards, it can only come in imagination, and there's no proof to this, or a scientific foundation. Meaning, in each, everything, every single detail, it is clear to a scientific Kabbalist who is researching this. Hence, without any comparison to the various science in this world. I know the science from this world, from within it, you can't compare. In this world, we collect details, data, and from all the details we find in nature, from researching, studying, we try to compose them together into a certain theory, into some general picture. It could be that it's like this. It could be another way. Later it falls, we build something else from a collection of facts. That, the approach to begin with and its foundation, in Kabbalah is not called scientific. Do you understand? But because we're trying to find the cause of things and then discover all the results, and we are incorporated from the results, because our whole world is a world of consequences, and the causes are in the upper world. So certainly, we're not capable of going in any other way. Well, let's learn a little bit.